The London Book Fair (LBF) has announced that The Children’s Media Conference (CMC) will be relocating from Sheffield to London next year, taking place on 16 and 17 March during LBF (16–18 March 2027) at Excel London.

Responding to a rapidly changing market and expanding its international reach, CMC’s new position in the industry calendar and London location will create fresh opportunities for collaboration, networking, and business development across complementary sectors. CMC 2027 will continue to deliver an agenda packed with keynotes and sessions designed to help delegates enhance their business understanding, alongside expanded market and networking opportunities.

LBF 2027 Conference & Event Line-up

The children and youth content conference joins a broad schedule of events taking place both before and during LBF:

“Day Zero” (Monday 15 March): Features the return of FutureBook, The Writers’ Summit, HP ConTEXT, and training sessions organized by the IPG.

Day One onwards (Tuesday 16 March – Thursday 18 March): Visitors can expect expanded content across multiple stages, including the new Audio Hub and the Market Focus stage (dedicated to Japan), alongside the return of the Main Stage, Tech Stage, The Salon, and Author HQ.

Helen McAleer, CMC Editorial Director, says:

“We could not be happier to partner with The London Book Fair on next year’s CMC. The city and time of year may be different, but the spirit and heart of CMC remains the same. We’re planning a conference packed with insightful, timely sessions, while expanding our network through new international partnerships and closer collaboration with delegates from complementary sectors. We can’t wait to bring the CMC community together in London.”

“CMC has endured 23 years of industry upheavals and change but thanks to the support of so many people in the kids’ creative sector it’s always been able to react and respond appropriately. We’ll be taking that sense of collaboration and collective action to our new London location. We hope a touch of the Sheffield spirit which made this conference unique will follow us to the East End, to provide many more years of service to the kids’ media industry and new partners in publishing and licensing. CMC’s connections with Sheffield continue as we explore opportunities for new focused events in our home city and others in the UK.”
— Greg Childs and Kathy Loizou, Founders of CMC

“I couldn’t be happier that The Children’s Media Conference have decided to begin their next chapter with us at our new home at Excel in March 2027. Working with Greg, Helen and Kathy has been a rare pleasure. They are founts of well-respected knowledge amongst their peers, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when we put the soul of CMC together with the stories from LBF.”
— Emma Lowe, Director of The London Book Fair

The London Book Fair (LBF), the world’s largest spring book trade and publishing event, will take place at Excel London from 16 to 18 March 2027. Registration will open in November, and further details can be found on the official London Book Fair website.